The present invention relates to a guide mechanism for guiding a sliding motion and a turning motion of a moving member in case that a covering member for closing an opening of a device such as interior equipment in an automobile or a board-like object taken out from a storage portion slides linearly and turns at an end of the sliding, and also relates to an open-close mechanism of a covering member using the guide mechanism and an interior equipment for an automobile using the open-close mechanism.
Conventionally, an interior equipment such as a cup-holder, an ashtray, and various types of glove compartment is installed in an instrument panel of an automobile. Also recently, a liquid crystal display panel of a car navigation system may be installed in the instrument panel. In this case, a covering member is usually attached to the ashtray or the various types of glove compartment. The covering member for protection may also be attached to the liquid crystal display panel of the car navigation system, as it is preferred that the panel is protected with the covering member when the system is not used.
In this case, when the covering member is opened and the glove compartment and the car navigation system are used, the opened covering portion sometimes becomes an obstacle. Especially in the case of the liquid crystal display panel of the car navigation system, the covering member may block the display panel. Additionally, the liquid crystal display panel of the car navigation system is used in a state where the covering member is opened for a long time, so that it is preferred that the opened covering member is stored into the instrument panel.
In order to store the covering member in the instrument panel, a storage method has been proposed. In such a method, after a board-like covering member is turned to open, the board-like covering member is pulled (or pushed) from the instrument panel by sliding while holding in a horizontal position or vertical position, thereby saving a storage space. Conventionally, as an example of this type of the open-close mechanism wherein the covering member slides after turning, Japanese Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 11-20552 discloses a mechanism for opening and closing a covering member of a console box, as shown in FIGS. 7(A) and 7(B).
The conventional open-close mechanism shown in FIGS. 7(A) and 7(B) includes two guide grooves b1, b2 parallel along the vertical direction on both side surfaces of a box main body a, and an arc-shaped connecting groove b3 connecting the both guide grooves b1, b2 at upper ends thereof. Also, a covering member c has a tongue-shaped supporting pieces d projecting at both sides of one end thereof, and two guide projections e1, e2 projecting on the supporting piece d. The covering member c is attached to the box main body a by inserting the guide projections e1 and e2 to each of the guide grooves b1, b2.
The open-close mechanism shown in FIG. 7(A) is in a state where the covering member c is closed and both guide projections e1, e2 are located inside the guide groove b1. When the covering member c is opened, as shown with a dot line in FIG. 7(A), an edge of the covering member c is lifted so that the covering member c is turned around the guide projection e1. At this time, the guide projection e2 moves into the connecting groove b3. Then, when the covering member c is turned to a nearly vertical position and an opening surface of the box main member c is completely opened, as shown with a dot line in FIG. 7(B), the guide projection e2 moves to a top edge part of the guide groove b2, and both guide projections e1, e2 are fitted in the guide grooves b1, b2, respectively. Then, the covering member c is pushed downward, so that both guide projections e1, e2 slide downward inside both guide grooves b1, b2, respectively. Accordingly, the covering member c is stored as sliding downward along one side of the box main body.
In case that the covering member c is closed from the state shown with a solid line in FIG. 7(B), both guide projections e1, e2 slide upward inside both guide grooves b1, b2, and the covering member c is pulled out, as shown with the dot line in FIG. 7(B). When the guide projections e1, e2 reach the top edge part of the guide grooves b1, b2, as shown with the dot line in FIG. 7(A), the covering member c is turned to the closed direction around the guide projection e1. At this time, the guide projection e2 moves into the connecting groove b3 from the guide groove b2, and moves to the connecting groove b1 through the connecting groove b3, as shown with a solid line in FIG. 7(A). Accordingly, the covering member c is closed completely, and both guide projections e1, e2 are located inside the guide groove b1.
However, this conventional open-close mechanism tends to be unstable in the open-close motion, especially opening from the closed state, thereby making it difficult to open the covering member c smoothly.
As shown in FIG. 7(A), when the covering member c is in the closed state, both guide projections e1 and e2 are located inside the guide groove b1 and can slide downward inside the guide groove b1, so that the covering member c is liable to wobble in an arrow direction f shown in FIG. 7(A).
Thus, when the covering member c is turned in the opening direction, the guide projection e1 that is the center of the turn becomes unstable due to the wobbling of the covering member c, thereby making the turning motion unstable. At the same time, because the guide projection e2 is shifted due to the wobbling, the guide projection e2 may not be able to move into the connecting groove b3 smoothly and may be caught at a corner between the guide groove b1 and the connecting groove b3, thereby making it difficult to open the covering member c smoothly.
The present invention has been made in considering the above-mentioned problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a guide mechanism for reliably guiding the sliding and turning motions so that a moving member can slide and turn smoothly in case that the moving member such as the covering member of the interior equipment for the automobile slides and turns at the end of the slide motion.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an open-close mechanism for the covering member using the guide mechanism and interior equipment for the automobile using the open-close mechanism.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objects, the present invention provides a guide mechanism for guiding the sliding and turning motions of a moving member in case that the moving member slides relative to a supporting base member and turns relative to the supporting base member at an end of the sliding motion. The supporting base member is provided with the first guide groove and the second guide groove parallel to each other. An arc-shaped branch groove is provided at each of ends of the first and second guide grooves, respectively. The moving member is provided with two first guide projections and the second guide projection, and the three guide projections are disposed in a triangle shape. The two first guide projections are inserted into the first guide groove and the second guide projection is inserted into the second guide groove. The moving member is guided to slide as the first guide projections and the second guide projection slide inside the first guide groove and the second guide groove, respectively. At one end of each of the guide grooves, one of the first guide projections moves into the arc-shaped branch groove of the first guide groove and slides inside the branch groove. Also, the second guide projection moves into the arc-shaped branch groove of the second guide groove and slides inside the branch groove, so that the moving member is guided to be able to turn around the other of the first guide projection.
In the guide mechanism of the present invention, the two first guide projections and the second guide projection are disposed on the moving member such as a covering member in a triangle shape. Further, the supporting base member supporting the moving member includes the first guide groove and the second guide groove in parallel, and the arc-shaped branch groove is formed at each end of the first and second guide grooves. The first guide projections are inserted into the first guide groove, and the second guide projection is inserted into the second guide groove.
The first and second guide projections slide inside the first and second guide grooves, respectively, so that the moving member is guided to slide along a predetermined path. When the moving member is turned at the ends of the guide grooves, one of the first guide projections moves into the arc-shaped branch groove provided at the end of the first guide groove, and the second guide projection moves into the arc-shaped branch groove provided at the end of the second guide groove. The one of the first guide projections and the second guide projection slide along an arc inside the branch grooves, respectively, so that the moving member is turned smoothly around the other of the first guide projections.
Moreover, in this invention, as described above, the moving member such as a covering member includes the three guide projections disposed in a triangle shape. When the moving member is turned, the moving member is guided as the one of the first guide projections and the second guide projection slide inside the branch grooves, respectively. Also, when the moving member slides, the first guide projections are guided along the first guide groove and the second guide projection is guided along the second guide groove. Therefore, as compared with the conventional mechanism as shown in FIG. 7 such that the turning is guided by one guide projection e1 and the sliding is guided by two guide projections e1, e2, it is possible to move the moving member smoothly.
As described above, in the guide mechanism of the present invention, when the moving member such as a covering member is turned, one of the first guide projections and the second guide projection slide inside the respective arc-shaped branch grooves. When the moving member is positioned at the end of the turning such as when the covering member is closed, each of the two guide projections is located in each branch groove, thereby preventing a wobbling of the moving member in the sliding direction. In addition, when the moving member is turned to slide from the end of the turning motion, the two guide projections move to the first and the second guide grooves for guiding the sliding motion from a state where the two guide projections are located inside the branch grooves while sliding inside the arc-shaped branch grooves according to the turning motion of the moving member. As a result, the turning motion shifts to the sliding motion smoothly without the guide projection being caught inside the sliding groove as in the conventional open-close mechanism of the covering member.
Therefore, according to the guide mechanism of the present invention, when the moving member slides and turns at the end of the sliding such as a covering member of the interior equipment for an automobile, the sliding motion and the turning motion can be guided reliably and stably, so that the moving member can slide and turn smoothly. Further, in addition to the guide mechanism, the present invention provides the following aspects of an open-close mechanism of a covering member using the guide mechanism and an interior equipment for an automobile using the open-close mechanism.
More specifically, with the guide mechanism as described above, the present invention provides an open-close mechanism of a covering member. The open-close mechanism of the covering member opens and closes an opening provided in the supporting base member while guiding the sliding motion and the turning motion of the covering member. The supporting base member is provided with the first guide groove and the second guide groove parallel to each other. An arc-shaped branch groove is provided at each of the ends of the first and second guide grooves, respectively. The covering member is provided with two first guide projections and the second guide projection, and the three guide projections are disposed in a triangle shape. The two first guide projections are inserted into the first guide groove and the second guide projection is inserted into the second guide groove. The covering member is guided to slide as the first guide projections and the second guide projection slide inside the first guide groove and the second guide groove, respectively. At the ends of the guide grooves, one of the first guide projections moves into the arc-shaped branch groove of the first guide groove and slides inside the branch groove. Also, the second guide projection moves into the arc-shaped branch groove of the second guide groove and slides inside the branch groove, so that the covering member is guided to be able to turn around the other of the first guide projection.
Further, the present invention provides the interior equipment for an automobile in which the covering member with the above-mentioned open-close mechanism is provided for opening and closing an opening of a box-shape main body of the interior equipment.